Resource Planning in UX Roles?

2 Mar 2011 - 3:14pm

Last reply:
4 years ago

1 reply

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aronoff

2010

HI Everyone,

My team and I are trying to figure out how many resources we need for a year. Forecasting our time has proven difficult, because internally to our organization our time is not tracked hourly, but is known as Business As Usual, which usually denotes coming off of a bottom line SOMEWHERE, but it's not specific to a specific project per se.

There in lies the problem.

We are slated for a lot of new projects, with promise of funding, amount of scope on the projects, etc. and we're trying to see what's truly feasible to work within our project timeline. Our release schedule is such, that there SHOULD be a natural ebb and flow to the projects, yet lately we're not seeing that happening and we're struggling with finishing projects we've started documentation on 8 months ago while trying to wrap our brains and drive out business requirements for 2 months from now.

As you can tell from my rambling, it's a little bit of a headache. ;)

So, here's my question.

From a resource planning perspective, how have you or others you know within large scale organizations account for a) all the amount of documentation, testing, etc. to happen, and align that with timelines.

I'm thinking of starting with an equation to at the very least get a ballpark number.

Have you used something similar in your resource planning for UX? Thank you for your help in advance! :)~Josh

Comments

3 Mar 2011 - 1:25am

C K Vijay Bhaskar

2009

I am assuming that there is a good buy-in
on the importance of UX folks in your organization for the success of your
project and organizational goals. UX folks will then be considered as any other
employee who is adding to the overall value to the project and the organization
– like a developer or a manager etc.

The forecasting of the need of the number
of such resources will be similar to how the forecasting is to be done for the
rest of the resource requirement in an organization.

There are many parameters that one has to
consider while getting into resource forecasting.

The first of the parameters is the cost of
the process of execution of the UX activities. What is the time and effort that
would typically take to complete each activity under the heading of UX – for a
range of different types and scope of projects? This input would form the
baseline for looking at the typical involvement of various stakeholders including the UX people in a ‘standard’
set of activities in your organization.

The next is on the cost/hour for UX folks
that would be based on many aspects including the type of hire, contract with
the UX person etc.

Once these two are baselined, the softer
aspects of managing resources will come in –

What is the forecasted attrition
within the UX team?

What is forecasted hire of new
UX members?

The next is on the allocation, utilization and
productivity of the UX members –

What is the current allocation
of UX members in existing projects?

What is the current utilization
of the UX members in existing projects?

When, who would be available
for re-allocation?

What is the forecasted need of
UX members in the upcoming projects?

What is the current
productivity of each UX member and average productivity of the UX team across
each phase of the project lifecycle?

These data points will provide an insight
into the allocation VS utilization for existing UX members and provide for an
insight into the typical allocation VS utilization in the upcoming projects.

This will also give an insight into the typical productivity of UX members across
the life cycle of the project.